Raised beds

[steff]

Hello,
What is the best way to construct raised beds? Any ideas?

[Snadger]

Hello steff and welcome to the vine!

There's loads of information on the vine on raised beds.Everyone has there favourite! Scaffold boards seem to be the most common but anything that will retain soil will do ie bricks,stone,tin sheeting, plastic facia board, floorboards,plywood strips,link-a-board etc.
Let your imagination run riot and use what you can pick up cheaply, which does the job, and doesn't look too unsightly!

If you use a four foot bed system you don't actually need any retainers to create raised beds. Just walk on the paths, compacting them and stay off the beds and the soil will automatically be higher than the paths. If you want to put retainers around the beds you can then do it at your leisure and as you can afford it!

[Headfry]

Scaffold boards......thats what I have used! they are great. When planning your beds work out how far you can reach with comfort. double this and you will have your bed width. You should be able to reach to the center of the bed as you should never tread on the beds once dug.
For the length.... it's up to you, but don't go to long- pain to keep walking round them.
Leave a wheel barrows width between the beds. Mine is pure and simple grass, so I made sure I could get the mower between the beds.
Good Luck and welcome to the vine Steff!

[Alice]

Welcome to the Vine Steff. As Snadger says there is already a lot of info on here if you do a search for it and it's really up to you how you want to do it. I would say don't make them more than 4 feet wide or you can't reach into the middle. You might think you have long arms and you could reach a bit further, but once you have plants growing in there you can't.
I just made my raised beds this year and they have been highly successful and productive. Good luck with yours.

[oneflewover]

Whilst planning my plot i visited a few allotments and the tidiest seem to have scaffold boards. So that was to be my plan. Meanwhile I dug my beds. Then I got to know about some scaffold boards. Problem:- the beds are 16' long - the boards are 12' so will have some joining to do!

Moral of tale - make beds same size as boards!

[Snadger]

Whilst planning my plot i visited a few allotments and the tidiest seem to have scaffold boards. So that was to be my plan. Meanwhile I dug my beds. Then I got to know about some scaffold boards. Problem:- the beds are 16' long - the boards are 12' so will have some joining to do!

Moral of tale - make beds same size as boards!

I would re-jiggle the beds to make them the length of your boards rather than join them! 12' is a good working size for beds!

[nick nack]

Welcome to the Vine Steff. As Snadger says there is already a lot of info on here if you do a search for it and it's really up to you how you want to do it. I would say don't make them more than 4 feet wide or you can't reach into the middle. You might think you have long arms and you could reach a bit further, but once you have plants growing in there you can't.
I just made my raised beds this year and they have been highly successful and productive. Good luck with yours.

Steff

I made my beds 5ft wide for planting this year and what Alice is saying is good advice. Although I could reach the middle you do definitely struggle when they are planted up. Just started to reorganise mine and reducing them to 4ft. Good luck with yours

NN

[Snadger]

Steff

I made my beds 5ft wide for planting this year and what Alice is saying is good advice. Although I could reach the middle you do definitely struggle when they are planted up. Just started to reorganise mine and reducing them to 4ft. Good luck with yours

NN

I did something similar on my last plot, the internal size of the beds was 4'0" but I edged them with breeze blocks which made the overal width about 4' 8" which meant I couldn't reach the centre of the bed!

I think 4 foot is a maximum size and it needs to be the outside dimension of the beds.

Because of the size of my new plot I have one bed at the top which is about 3 foot wide and it is a joy to work on with no back pain or overstretching.

[littleweed]

Welcome Stef, I am so glad you put this on, now I don't need to ask. I think I'm going to go with the 4 x 6 and maybe go for two paths and three beds across. Good luck and let me know how you get on.

[Headfry]

The only thing that I have found slightly difficult using the deep beds is the earthing up of potatoes!

[Shelle]

Benefits of raised beds

Can someone tell me the benefits of raised beds? I am in the process of creating some beds in my garden, and wondered what the reasons are for doing raised beds as against a bed without edges? Does the raised bed have a deeper amount of soil/compost?

I have seen many posts with excellent advice on how to make raised beds, but was a little puzzled as to why we do this?

[Snadger]

The only thing that I have found slightly difficult using the deep beds is the earthing up of potatoes!

The simple answer is DON'T!!! I put a six inch mulch of well rotted manure on my raised tattie beds and don't need to earth up. No green potatoes on top and lovely clean potatoes under the mulch!

[Snadger]

Can someone tell me the benefits of raised beds? I am in the process of creating some beds in my garden, and wondered what the reasons are for doing raised beds as against a bed without edges? Does the raised bed have a deeper amount of soil/compost?

I have seen many posts with excellent advice on how to make raised beds, but was a little puzzled as to why we do this?

There are numerous reasons for creating raised beds, here are a few:-

*Ideally suited to a no-dig regime..just add a manure mulch each year and let the worms take it in!
* All work can be done from paths
* Deeper topdsoil..ideal for deep rooted veg
* Warmer soil, allowing earlier planting and later cropping
* Less chance of flooding
*Easily netted or covered with fleece/plastic
* Well suited to crop rotation
* Gives a psychilogical feeling of achievemant when each small bed is weeded/planted/dug
*Can look very tidy when arranged in geometric designs ie Potager/Victorian Kitchen Garden-ish
* Once established less labour intensive

There are probably hundreds of other reasons I have omitted but I hope I have listed the main reasons!

[Alice]

I made my raised beds Shelle so that I don't have to dig, or bend right down to the ground to weed. But I did raise them about 20".

[Headfry]

My plot was covered in 'nasty type' weeds, so I started with one bed, its good for the soul as it is a contained space and is not as daunting as trying to keep a big piece of land weed free and neat. As time went by I added more beds. The soil is so easy to dig- bliss.
I would not change my views if I had it all to do again.